1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vents, and more particularly to a passive building vent which is suitable for installation in the outside wall of a multi-story building thereby equalizing the air pressure within the building to the outside atmospheric pressure.
2. Discussion of the Relevant Art
Numerous types of building vents are in use today. Their specific purpose is to provide a device for exhausting air from a confined space to the outside when the confined air either reaches a prescribed temperature or odoriferous particles have been trapped within the confined space and it is desirable to release the confined air to the outside atmosphere. In some instances these vents are utilized in conjunction with attic vents, which may be passive or powered, and they assist in the discharge of the confined air to the outside atmosphere.
Typical of these vents is an energy saver damper assembly disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 710,965, filed Mar. 12, 1985 by Stanley Kolt and a unidirectional vent, Ser. No. 673,586 filed Nov. 21, 1984 by the same inventor. In addition to providing the normal venting function the unidirectional vent provides for the equalizing of air pressures should a sudden drop in the outside or atmospheric air occur, such as experienced during tornados or other violent air disturbances. The unique property of the unidirectional vent is that it permits a prescribed amount of air to escape from a confined air space yet it provides for an instantaneous increase in the amount of air permitted to escape with sudden drops in outside or atmospheric air pressure. This feature prevents the confined air from causing damage to windows, and the like, with sudden drops of atmospheric air pressure.
The instant invention is ideally suited for use in multi-story buildings wherein the confined inner space may be continuously equalized with the outside atmospheric air and when combined with the unidirectional air vent can compensate for sudden drops in the outside atmospheric pressure. Thus the normal "chimney-like" effect which is caused in multi-story or high rise buildings when they are provided with a central heating or air conditioning system may now be eliminated, since the air pressure at each story is equalized to the outside air pressure. This decreases if not eliminates the drawing in of additional outside air into the system which would require additional capacity for the heating and air conditioning systems utilized therein.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a passive building vent which is reliable and easily installable in multi-story buildings.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a reliable building vent capable of equalizing the air pressures between the confined air space and the atmospheric air with sudden drops in atmospheric air pressure.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a passive building vent suitable for use in high rise buildings which insures that the confined building air may be vented to the outside even when circulating atmospheric air currents flow in an upwardly direction.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a means for venting a multi-story building when low velocity outside atmospheric winds impinge directly upon the exhaust vanes of the vent.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a passive building vent that provides for venting the confined air into the outside atmospheric air with high velocity winds impinging directly upon the exhaust vanes.
The present apparatus overcomes the shortcomings of the known art by providing a reliable, relatively inexpensive, venting apparatus which is passive and contains a minimum number of moving parts.
A passive building vent disposed in an opening provided in an outside vertical wall communicating between the outside atmospheric air and the confined air space within the building, according to the principles of the present invention, comprises an inner vertical wall having a plurality of horizontally extending louvres with downwardly extending openings and a pair of side wall portions affixed to the inner vertical wall beyond the end of the louvres. A plurality of horizontally disposed vanes extend between the pair of side wall portions and are journaled in apertures provided therein. The vanes extend downwardly in a vertical plane, overlapping, and are displaced inwardly providing free air passage therebetween. A coupling rod is coupled to each of the vanes and provides simultaneously movement thereof. An additional deflector vane is disposed proximate the lower edges of the side wall portion. The deflector vane closes the opening between the side wall portions and maintains the vanes in a generally open position when the atmospheric air flows in an upwardly direction between the side wall portions.
The foregoing and other objects and advantages will appear in the description to follow. In the description reference is made to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof, and which is shown by way of illustration a specific embodiment in which the invention may be practiced. This embodiment will be described in sufficient detail to enable the skilled and the art to practice the invention and it is to be understood that the other embodiments may be utilized and that structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention it is best to find by the appended claims.